Occupational therapy and ALS

Neuroinflammation and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) upregulation are associated with the pathogenesis of degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), epilepsy, and a response to traumatic brain injury (TBI) or stroke. COX-2 is also induced in acute pain, depression, schizophrenia, various cancers, arthritis and in acute allograft rejection. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging allows for the direct measurement of in vivo COX-2 upregulation and thereby enables disease staging, therapy evaluation and aid quantifying target occupancy of novel nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs...

Background: Structured follow-up care starting immediately after the transplantation and living donation and ideally continuing long-term, can improve transplant survival and aid in the detection of risk factors for physical and psychological morbidity of various origins. In addition to classical cardiovascular risk factors, these include a lack of patient adherence, knowledge deficits with respect to the rules of conduct after transplantation and living donation, lack of exercise and coping strategies and also occupational health and social law issues...

BACKGROUND: Individuals married to active duty military members experience a significantly higher rate of un/underemployment than their civilian counterparts; those with advanced degrees are most impacted. Occupation is central to individual identity and adaptation; therefore, individual occupational struggles can impact family systems. Evidence shows military spouse career concerns impact service member retention, making spouse employment related to national security, however there is limited research on active duty spouses, particularly those with advanced degrees...

This scoping review aims to describe occupational therapy interventions carried out with multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients in occupational therapy. A peer review of the literature was conducted in different databases: Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science and Embase, and in some occupational therapy journals. A search of the literature published was carried out before December 2019. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) articles evaluating the intervention of occupational therapy in MS or ALS including experimental, randomized, nonrandomized and exploratory studies; (2) written in English or Spanish; (3) adult population (over 18 years old)...

(1) Background: The study is focused on the implementation of outcome measurement tools to assess the impact of an assistive device from a loan bank in the lives of people with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Neuromuscular Diseases. The secondary purpose is to analyse the correct matching between the person and technology, derived from the counselling of an occupational therapist. (2) Methods: Cross-sectional study. The sample was formed by 28 people with rare neurodegenerative disorders. A specific questionnaire, the Psychosocial Impact of Assistive Device Scale (PIADS), and the Matching Person and Technology (MPT) tool were applied to collect the data...

INTRODUCTION: Rehabilitation therapies are critical for optimizing quality-of-life and daily functions for individuals living with Parkinson's disease (PD). Thus, understanding the patterns of and under what conditions physicians make rehabilitation referrals is important for optimizing care. METHOD: We analyzed data from 5020 participants (4 countries) collected from 1/3/2016 to 4/20/2018 as part of the Parkinson's Foundation Quality Improvement Initiative (PF QII)...

Heavy metals are considered to be among the leading environmental factors that trigger amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, no convincing biopathological mechanism and therapeutic clinical implication of such metals in ALS pathogenesis have been established. This is partly attributable to the technical and scientific difficulties in demonstrating a direct and causative role of heavy metals in the onset of ALS in patients. However, a body of epidemiological, clinical and experimental evidences suggest that lead (Pb), more than other metals, could actually play a major role in the onset and progression of ALS...

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a debilitating disease of progressively worsening physical function. The direct medical, direct nonmedical, and indirect costs of care for these patients is significant, and annual costs can be around $70,000 on average. Major drivers of cost can include hospitalizations, in-home care, nutrition, physical and occupational therapy, and medication interventions. Beyond the monetary costs, patients also endure a decreased quality of life, which may also burden caregivers and family members...

Neural precursor cells (NSCs) hold great potential to treat a variety of neurodegenerative diseases and injuries to the spinal cord. However, current delivery techniques require an invasive approach in which an injection needle is advanced into the spinal parenchyma to deliver cells of interest. As such, this approach is associated with an inherent risk of spinal injury, as well as a limited delivery of cells into multiple spinal segments. Here, we characterize the use of a novel cell delivery technique that employs single bolus cell injections into the spinal subpial space...

IMPORTANCE: Evidence has demonstrated that shoulder pain constitutes a functional impairment for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). No studies have yet examined the efficacy of scapular mobilization of the painful shoulder among patients with ALS. OBJECTIVE: Our retrospective case series evaluated the effects of scapular mobilization on pain and shoulder motion among patients with ALS. DESIGN: Retrospective case series over 2 yr...

BACKGROUND: The nature of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is progressive and degenerative, thus influencing individuals physically, emotionally, and socially. A broad review of qualitative studies that describe the personal experiences of people with ALS with physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language pathology interventions, and how those affect QoL is warranted. PURPOSE: This study synthesizes qualitative research regarding the potential that rehabilitation interventions have to maintain and/or improve QoL from the perspective of people with ALS...

BACKGROUND: Fatigue and unintentional weight loss are two of the commonest symptoms experienced by people with advanced progressive illness. Appropriate interventions may bring considerable improvements in function and quality of life to seriously ill people and their families, reducing physical, psychological and spiritual distress. OBJECTIVES: To conduct an overview of the evidence available on the efficacy of interventions used in the management of fatigue and/or unintentional weight loss in adults with advanced progressive illness by reviewing the evidence contained within Cochrane reviews...

Many mobile teams were created over the past decade in various medical specialties including physical medicine and rehabilitation (MPR). The Pôle Saint-Helier has created a mobile team of rehabilitation-reintegration (EM2R) in December 2012 with support from the Regional Health Agency of Brittany. It operates on the health territory No. 5 of Brittany near people experiencing neurological disability. Its main mission is to implement the necessary devices to facilitate the home return of people hospitalized after a neurological event or maintaining to home people with neurological disorders...

This randomized controlled study assessed the efficacy of active music therapy (AMT) on anxiety, depression, and quality of life in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Communication and relationship during AMT treatment were also evaluated. Thirty patients were assigned randomly to experimental [AMT plus standard of care (SC)] or control (SC) groups. AMT consisted of 12 sessions (three times a week), whereas the SC treatment was based on physical and speech rehabilitation sessions, occupational therapy, and psychological support...

In recent years a great number of studies suggests that occupational exposures could play a role in the onset of some neurodegenerative diseases. The literature data are more numerous for Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, although to date no specific occupational exposure was proved to be a definite causal factor. This lack of information is attributable both to the complex patogenesis of these diseases and to a delay regarding this field of research with respect to others pathologies...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility and usability of an assistive technology (AT) prototype designed to be operated with conventional/alternative input channels and a P300-based brain-computer interface (BCI) in order to provide users who have different degrees of muscular impairment resulting from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with communication and environmental control applications. DESIGN: Proof-of-principle study with a convenience sample. SETTING: An apartment-like space designed to be fully accessible by people with motor disabilities for occupational therapy, placed in a neurologic rehabilitation hospital...

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) encompasses a spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases with heterogeneous clinical presentations and two predominant types of underlying neuropathology. FTD typically comprises three distinct clinical syndromes: behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), and nonfluent variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA). FTD also frequently overlaps both clinically and neuropathologically with three other neurodegenerative syndromes: corticobasal syndrome (CBS), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)...

We describe the results of a systematic review of the literature on occupational therapy-related interventions for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The review included 14 studies. We found limited to moderate evidence that people involved in multidisciplinary programs have longer survival than those in general care and limited evidence that those in multidisciplinary programs have a higher percentage of appropriate assistive devices and higher quality of life in social functioning and mental health...

Systematic reviews of the literature relevant to neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), are important to the practice of occupational therapy. We describe the four questions that served as the focus for systematic reviews of the effectiveness of occupational therapy interventions for PD, MS, and ALS. We include the background for the reviews; the process followed for addressing each question, including search terms and search strategy; the databases searched; and the methods used to summarize and critically appraise the literature...

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